I think itâs about time. He was, IMO, a good horse, maybe not great, but always gave it his best. Last year or so, seems more like he was going through the motions.
Wonder what his stallion qualities will be (i.e., how good is he at passing on some of his abilities).
I always liked him. He was a good horse who happened to have the misfortune of racing against a few of the greats. He was tough and gritty and I did always think that without CC or AP he wouldâve had a lot more success.
Always liked him. Gritty horse, nice to look at, good breeding. He tried his heart out every time but I think he lost his spark after his 3 yr old season. I think Shah took the horse from Baffert thinking Bob wasnât putting the time and effort into the horse but I honestly think the horseâs head and heart werenât in it anymore. They tried some new things with him but heâs just not the same horse he was as a youngster and that is no oneâs fault.
Hard not to think that his sheer size and capacity didnât play a role in his slowing down either. his is a monstrous animal and as he aged; I think it negatively affected him. Hopefully anyone planning to breed to him plans to send tiny mares to downsize his offspring a bit.
Wish him the best in his stud career but feel this one might be lost to shipping overseas eventually. 
When a stallion is that big, would they typically breed small mares to him? Is there risk of the foal being big which could cause problems for the small mare when she gave birth?
My understanding is that the foal grows as large as the mare. It may get larger after birth but from what I understand, a smaller mare should be at limited risk breeding to a large stallion (think of draft or pony crosses⊠it isnât always the mare thatâs larger).
Iâm not sure that offspring size is âaveragedâ either. If Dortmund has a family history of large, heâs more likely to throw large.
no, my thoughts are if you breed a smaller mare to a bigger stallion; you reduce the genetic size in the offspring. Dortmund is too big for his own good. just adds to the foot problems his sire had. Arrogate always makes me nervous, too tall, too big.
Breed a 17 hand stallion to something in the 15 hand range and get something more moderately sized with all the talent. Not breeding him to ponies to cause foaling problems; just something with less size behind them (and soundness!!)
Watching Dortyâs videos; he was a caboose on a train track. his size impacted his performance and as he aged; I think it had a negative affect on him.
In my breeding experience, breeding a big horse to a small mare doesnât necessarily mean you will get a middle sized horse. More often you get size either of the mare or the stallion. I hope Dortmund has success as a sire, and I agree he might be one that goes oversees.
As clint said, breeding 17h to 15h doesnât necessarily make 16h⊠you might just end up with a bunch of 17hâs. I wasnât suggesting breeding Dortmund to a pony⊠I doubt that would happen in any case as I suspect most pony owners wonât âponyâ (pun intended 
) up his stud fee.
I personally saw the races of Dortmund. He was a good racer. I hope that he will enjoy the life after retirement.
Well it looks like Dorty might get another shot at being a winner.
Hes back in training with Sherman.
I saw that. With Art he has that big stall, good care, and probably far less pressure on him than at another big name trainer. Maybe heâs one of those horses that wants a job, and galloping around the track and being waited on isnât that bad of a job. I would like to see him come through for all of them, though.
http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/222560/dortmund-back-in-training-at-los-alamitos
Wonder if heâll be retired earlier in 2018 than he was in 2017 (April). Claim was not good timing as the breeding season was already in progress (which, yes, in April would be true).
Wonder if heâll be retired earlier in 2018 than April or maybe limited interest in his book was also driving the decision (I have no idea). Will be interesting to see what the future holds for Dortmund.
Iâm guessing Shah couldnât find an acceptable stud deal. Itâs not much of a sire line, close up. Big Brown hasnât made much of a splash, and BB was pretty much Boundaryâs only noteworthy offspring.
I really wish Shah would just retire the horse and find him a sport horse career with a notable person or find him someone to retire him with who will at least take care of him and do right by the horse. It is clear the horseâs head is not in the game of racing anymore so why even consider pushing him back to that route. It just seems like an accident waiting to happen
It has been said on social media that no stud farm wanted Dortmund for various reasons. I am sure some of it has to do with Shah didnât get the $$ offer he was expecting on Dortmund.
I am more sad for the horse. Just shy of 2,000,000 in earnings and hes going back to the class, likely to bump down in classes, and its very apparent he just doesnât want to race at the top of his game anymore
I do hope his long layoff proves me wrong but if not, I hope Shah finally does right by the horse. Would be nice to see him with an event or hunter trainer doing the Thoroughbred makeover or something along those lines; not so much sitting in a field at Old Friends.
I find it hard to believe Shah canât find a stud deal for him. I do believe Shah couldnât find a deal worth the $$$ he wanted or was one time offered. There are plenty of farms who would happily stand him, but probably not for the exhorbitant purchase price Shah was hoping for. And it doesnât help that Dortmund hasnât been able to recreate his early 3 year old brilliance.
This is exactly why the shed gets these colts so early. Breeders have short memories. Had Dortmund been retired immediately following the Derby with some minor skin abrasion or a popped clinch, Shah would have gotten MUCH more lucrative offers (while the Internet crowd cried about breeding unsound horses). But he did what armchair critics are always saying owners should do: he kept the horse running. Maybe for sport or maybe to further increase his value given his breeding. It didnât work out, and now heâs stuck holding the bill.
(ETA: and my gosh, the horse has still been competitive; he had one truly bad race after a failed attempt on grass. The way people are talking, youâd think he was losing races on the fair circuit these days. I trust his connections have a far better idea of his physical and mental state than any of us do.)
Shah, if you want someone to stand Dortmund for you, call me. We can make this work. :lol:
Well⊠Mr. Shah didnât call me, but he sure landed him as close as possible:
https://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racâŠrm-in-maryland
I love the line that he is retired âfor goodâ this time. :lol:
Iâm surprised. I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall during the process. I didnât think $7.5K in KY would be a problem. Maybe it was. Iâm really wondering what type of mares he will get in MD at that price. He certainly is the most accomplished racehorse to start of his career here in my memory⊠most other accomplished racehorses who end up in MD are KY âflunkies.â
Looking forward to watching this all unfold!
At that price will they only take race mares? Especially if he doesnât have a full book?
I imagine they might take non race mares but donât know why anyone would want to do so.
His sire, Big Brown, is making some very nice sport horses in their second careers. His dam has a very nice linear with Storm Cat, Danzig, Mr Prospector, Secretariat, Northern Dancer in there. Hes highly inbred to Northern Dancer and both Big Brown and Dorty had some feet troubles; so throw caution to the wind there.
The likely will not take outside mares in the first season or two. I expect his book to be quite full in his initial season in Maryland. Maryland hasnât had an opportunity at a sire like this in some time.
I would consider him for outside mares but only after going to Bonita to look him over myself. He is quite a good mover so he might compliment the right sport mare very well
